There are different types of high magnification cameras. Taking microscopes as an example, there are generally three different types: optical microscopes, electron microscopes, and laser microscopes.
Optical microscopes provide the advantage of being able to capture images of moving objects, such as living cells and tissues, as real time video images.
However, optical microscopes have a limited depth of field. Thus, subjects, such as tissues, must be cut into very thin slices before taking pictures in optical microscopes, which involves great efforts before use. All such efforts often end up in failure of capturing images of thick objects, proving that it is difficult to obtain information in 3D.
Electron microscopes provide the advantage of very high resolution.
However, electron microscopes have the limitation of not being able to looking at living cells and tissues as well as tissues in water. They have a narrow application.
Laser microscopes provide the advantages of having a large depth of field and being able to capture images of thick objects.
However, laser microscopes are not able to capture images of moving objects as video images because an image is formed by scanning a subject with using a laser beam.
In fact, the optical microscopes, the electron microscopes, and the laser microscopes have advantages and disadvantages. It is thus necessary to use them flexibly as the application demands.
An object of the present invention is to provide a camera in which problems of such cameras are solved, that is, a camera that is able to capture images of moving subjects as video images, that has a large depth of field and is thus able to capture images of thick objects, and that is able to capture images of living cells and tissues as well as tissues in water.